Secured Sevenfold

Brian’s POV
After Arin pulled his speech on us we all settled in the living room and after a short while Dean and Liv arrived with small bags and settled into their guest rooms.

Sometime later we all, and I really mean all, sat around the table in the living room, Zacky didn’t look happy at all that Dean and Liv were here and staying, just like myself. Now we all were just waiting for Joseph to come back and give us all the information he had.

I had’t even really finished the thought about Joseph when the doorbell rang again, finally. Matt quickly got up and let Joseph inside, he looked around and greeted all of us.
He seemed to know Dean and Liv, who he greeted by hugging both of them shortly and giving them some encouraging words.

“So here is all I could find, I tried to mark a map with the area where I remembered her house was, or at least where I tried to remember, I wasn’t too sure, if I have to be honest... I mean it’s quite a while ago.” Joseph says sadly and we all look at the msp, trying to figure out what we could.
“Are there some details you remember about the house? Was it new or old? The color, everything could help.” Zack asked and wrote everything down that Joseph said.
“Was there something significant in the street? A restaurant, gas station, anything?” Arin asked and again Joseph tried to give all the details he remembered, but it was visible that it was hard for him. It had been a long time after all since he had been there.

The questioning and guessing went on and on, exploring all different directions we could think of and we wrote everything down, I saw Zack and Arin trying to get more and more details so we could narrow down the area that we had to search in the end.

After we were sure that Joseph didn’t have much more on the house, we at least finally had a lead... we just needed to find out where this house was exactly, if the house was still there and if Joanne was still living there.
Shit, thinking like that again, it sounded like one hell of a job to find that all out.

I sighed heavily, looking at all of us gathered around living room table, I was getting tired by all this planning and not being able to do anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I knew this was the right way to do it, but I just wasn’t made for this.
I was made for going outside for freaking doing something and not sitting around and gathering ideas.

I wanted to break into some freaking house and get my girl back... shit... Jacky, I missed her so much.
When I lay in our bed I could still smell her in the pillow, I hated and loved the fact...
I tried to get along with the presence of Dean and I was succeeding quite good, as long as we don’t have to be in too close proximity of him and we have to discuss Jacky.
So for now, we were okay...
Didn´t know how long this would be going but right now... I was good.

“Alright, so you think you can find something?” Matt asked Arin getting my attention back.
“I will try my best, you keep writing down the information and I will see what I can find with the details you got.” Arin said and got up, I pushed my chair back as well and looked at the others.
“What? I wanna see what the kid finds out, you keep on talking.” I say and head after Arin into his room.
“Don’t get your hopes up too much, Brian. I will try my best... but we gotta wait.” Arin says putting his laptop to his bed and sitting down, he looks up like he was thinking, then began to type and I took the chair from the corner sitting beside him.

He was typing so fast I couldn’t even follow what he was doing there, but then he began to grumble and sigh and I was trying to look over his shoulder to at least know what he was finding out.
“Shit... wait...” Arin was more talking to himself then to me, that’s at least what I guessed.
“Alright... so... I gotta make a call, can you hand me the phone?” He asks and I nod, moving over to his nightstand handing the cell phone to him.

He dialed a number and I heard someone pick up “It’s Arin, yeah... I know... can you check if this house is still exists and if yes if it is still owned by the same name or if there is someone new in the land register?” Arin asked and I was amazed by the kid, he got the address apparently, now it was just a question if it was still there and owned by Joanne or her mother.

“I’m waiting...” Arin says impatiently, tapping his fingers on the laptop, making me nervous as hell.
“Perfect... okay, thanks man... yeah I will let him know. Alright... bye.” He hung up and grinned.
“I got something... come one we tell the others.” Arin got up and I quickly follow, they were still discussing what to do next, if we didn’t find the house, but Arin must have good news if the smile on his face was any indication.
“So?” Matt asks getting up from his chair.
“So, I got the address and I got the name of the owner...” Arin announced looking smug.
“The spit it out, kid.” I shove him and Arin rubs his shoulder.
“Only under one condition.” Arin says making me and Matt frown “What?” We say in unison.
“When I tell you this, I get to pick what is our next move, without you interfering.” Arin look at me and Matt and I narrow my eyes, what the fuck...

“Fine, spill it.” Matt nods and I open my eyes wide... “What?!”
“The house is still there, here is the address, it’s owned by a person named: Joanne Crowley.”
“Fuck yes, let’s go there and my girlfriend back!” I was about to move towards the door, when someone grabbed my shirt, stopping me.
“What is your plan Arin?”
“I will check it out, together with Johnny and Dean and the rest of you guys will stay here, we will get as much information as we can, but we won’t do anything stupid and storm in there...” Arin said and I wanted to punch that kid in the face, I mean we finally had something and he wanted to-
“Stop it, Brian, and quit that murderous look in your eyes. They will leave and check it out, but you will stay in contact with us at all times.” Matt announced and Dean, Johnny and Arin were already getting up, did they plan this all along? Leaving me out of this? This sucked!

I punched the wall as soon as the door closed behind them and let out a cry in frustration before I turned to Matt
“How the fuck can you be this calm about this! Don’t you care about Joe at all?!”
Matt didn’t say a word even though I could see he had to work hard for that. He gave me on last look, anger flaming in his irises and the clenched jaw giving even more away of the actual anger going on inside of him. I was ignorant to the emotion behind it though… I was mad at the fact that Jacky wasn’t here, I was mad at the fact that I was fucking locked in this house, I was mad that I couldn’t do ANYTHING, and to be honest, it was too much anger inside of me, I had to punch something, or someone and Matt pissed me off.
“I don’t fucking care that you think that there was no easier way to get rid of Joe, but I want my girlfriend back, safe in my arms, I LOVE HER!” I yelled after Matt, making him stop dead in his tracks.

Before I could even blink my eyes, Matt had taken a few large steps back to me and he had me pinned to the wall, his hand clenching my shirt.
“Don’t. Ever. Say. Something. Like. That. Ever. Again!” Matt seethed, getting full up in my face. His face was filled with anger, and even though I had known him for a very long time, I had never seen him this angry… And we all know Matt had an anger management issue.
“You listen to me, and you listen to me carefully” his voice was calm and quiet and that freaked me out a little, there was no knowing what he would do now.
“I love Joe, I have never loved anyone like her. I want to marry her, I want her to have my kids someday, you don’t get to be upset about this alone. My girlfriend is gone too Brian, but I need to get my head in the game, for one to keep me from going out of my mind, and second to be able to get both of them back safely. You are not alone in this, Brian, get that through that thick skull of yours!”

Then, as if nothing had happened, Matt let go of me and walked up the stairs. His shoulders hanging low, his head to the ground. Shit, he was right, I wasn’t alone in this, all the people in this house were worried about these girls, all of them wanted them back home safely.

“Hey.. wanna go outside for a bit?” I felt a hand on my shoulder and the voice of my best friend, getting me back to the here and now.
I shrugged “Sure” and let Zack guide me through the terrace doors into the garden.

“Talk to me Brian”
We sat down next to the pool, I stared ahead of me, not being able at Zack. I knew I would find sympathy in his face and I was scared of what that would do with me. I was on the edge of falling, not being able to get up again, and that wasn’t something we could use right now. I needed to stay strong, for Jacky, but it was damn hard with barely 2 or 3 hours of sleep every night.
“You know… We all worry, right? Every time I wake up in the middle of the night, I go downstairs, and someone is there… always… Trying to think of something to get them back. You know who always is there?”
I looked at him in question
“Matt. I don’t think he slept at all since Joe has been gone. He hasn’t talked to anyone about it, but somehow I get the idea he can’t stand to be in their room”

Silence fell over us and I stared at my hands
“Her pillow still smells like her, it’s comforting, but it hurts so much too. I need her Zack, I’m going crazy without her. Not knowing if she is okay, not knowing anything. I just need her back with me.”
“I know man, I know. We want her back too”
“No! You don’t understand! I don’t know how to live without her anymore, Zack. I don’t know how to do my job, I don’t know if I’m living my life forward or backward. It’s just… My food doesn’t taste like anything, I barely sleep at all. I don’t even remember my life without her….” I looked up at my best friend who was looking back at me, without any judgment at all, he was here, being my friend.
“It’s scaring the shit out of me…. I mean… She will get back to me, and then the danger is over again and her life will get back to normal. What if… What if she finds out I don’t fit her that well after all? That there is this whole other life she wants to lead, without me? I don’t think I will survive… And that sucks…. When did I become this man?”

Zack chuckled lightly next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“She got her spell on you from the moment you laid eyes on her. With her you were never the man you were before, you told me she was just one night, but she never was. You were just denying, but you loved her from the first second”
“I could just kill her those first days”
“ Of course you could, but you know what… All foreplay” he winked at me, making me smile a little.
“It was a good thing Jacky knew what she wanted from the beginning and she went for her goal, I think you would still be denying if she hadn’t”

I thought about that for a minute, he was right. She was the one showing me that I loved her, even though she didn’t even know at that time probably. Oh god, I loved her so much.

“She will get back to you, Brian, and believe me, she won’t go anywhere.”

Notes

Uh, whoops... Did we make Brian and Matt fight?
I guess we did...

What do you guys think? Liv and Dean staying at the house, Matt and Brian being all frustrated...
Is this going to work out or will they have killed each other before they even find the girls?

A new week has started, let the games begin! ;-)